<p>Is it true that you can't get a scholarship for and Undergraduate Degree at Columbia?</p>
<p>That is completely false.</p>
<p>Thanks. I was scared for a minute.</p>
<p>Actually it’s partially true. You can’t get a merit scholarship for an undergrad degree. You can get a need-base scholarship/grant.</p>
<p>From what I have heard, the need-based aid is usually enough or close to it. In the case that it isn’t, you have work-study options.</p>
<p>columbia does not award scholarships. </p>
<p>you can get need-based financial aid. that is, columbia gives you however much money your family needs to pay tuition.</p>
<p>To be more accurate, they give you as much as a family at your income level should need assuming your family is on the responsible side of average with how they spend their money (i.e., not too big of a house, not too expensive of a car, not too much debt/back payments, etc), and typical in all other regards. If you’re atypical for whatever reason (12 siblings, parent with chronic illness, fifty thousand in savings, whatever), the school will make a (seemingly arbitrary) determination as to whether or not that is a legitimate atypical-ness, and possibly adjust accordingly, if you call the financial aid office enough times and march in to talk to your aid officer after they prove unavailable on two or three occasions.</p>
<p>Not that I’m bitter or anything.</p>
<p>No merit-based scholarships except little prizes here and there for academic things, which you could conceivably apply towards your tuition, but which would by no means make up any serious gap between your EFC and the total cost of attendance.</p>
<p>And if you get an external scholarship, they will let you use that instead of doing work-stuy. But if the scholarship is worth more than work-study, they’ll just give you less grants. In effect, you can’t use outside scholarships to close the gap (if a gap exists, which it shouldn’t). Columbia doesn’t give you any money for academics and merit, just need.</p>